Geodesic Dome Homes...Pros and Cons?

[ToddSInGA]

Just wondering if anyone here has built or are familar with geodesic dome homes? I've seen a few sites that offer the kits, which seem to be geared to the DIYer and the costson these kits is reasonable. I recall seeing a show on HGTV about building one of these as well not too long ago.

Any pros or cons on this approach?

[Squirl]

Huge Con Heat Loss and Gain.  Most Kits I have seen are all glass.  Huge heat loss in winter. Glass overhead = huge heat gain in summer.

Con. Most kits leak like a sieve.  I have heard many horror stories about actually living in these things.  They are interesting to look at, a nightmare to live in.

[Curtis]

Do not buy a kit, you can simply build very nice and effecient domes using a method of construction that uses earthbags.

It is very cheap, and very easy. Let me show you some links and photos:

Here is an example of three smaller domes connected to make one nice unit:

Thats the final product

Here you see the process of building one. The top part represents the walls in the continous tube bags that where used to make the structure. The dirt in the bags cure, and become rock hard like giant adove blocks (if you used individual bags, or a long rocklike coil if you use tubes). It isnt nessasary to remove the bags when done, and I can only imagine they did this to make plastering/surfacing it easier since they did not use any sort of chicken wire on the outside for it to adhere to easily. The bottom represents some protective siding.

This is a very earth friendly way of buiding. Its super energy effecient, and looks absolutely lovely. You fill the bags with reject sand / dirt from gravel yards. It literally costs about $1.50 a ton. All you need to build the structure is dirt, the bags, barbed wire, and just a few hard workers. Its all monolithic meaning its one construction medium for the entire structure.

I forget the technical term, but the walls of the house will absorb the heat in the hottest part of the day, and it will be released into the house during the coldest part of the day.

I would recomend reading: "Earthbag Building", it should be at your local library or it can be found online. Its a great book that is an excellent resource if you choose to go that route.

Good luck!

[fishing_guy]

http://naturalspacesdomes.com/Pioneer_press/pioneer2-3-07.htm

This was built by a coworker of mine.  They were into midevil stuff.  They loved it.

[glenn kangiser]

Cool stuff Curtis and fishing guy.  I have seen the bag houses but don't remember seeing them completed.

I have some friends here who have a Geodesic dome home - built by a contractor I think.  I haven't heard of any problems with it but haven't asked.  Looks like it would be hard to successfully shingle to me. 

I like the bag houses and have considered building a similar formed concrete design by Ken Kern.

[rwanders]

Back in the 60's I knew Buckminister Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome. He lived in one in Carbondale, Illinois. I have known two others built and lived in by friends-----like all round homes, they have their quirks in floor plans,etc and are awkward to shingle. Don't remember any unusual leaking problems though. They do provide the ultimate in open floor plan possibilities and go up amazingly fast----also very strong structures for wind or earthquake stresses. The structural form is actually in use all around the world, especially for large commercial buildings that need to provide very large unobstructed areas.

[glenn kangiser]

That's cool - I read about Bucky a bit a long time ago.